Sara Sheridan, The Secret Mandarin
12 quotes
"Such a night cannot be shaken from a woman’s memory. Such a night changes your life forever."
"It occurred to me that as a man I could do anything, everything I wanted."
"What was it that marked me as a woman and was I prepared to let it go?"
"We might give her presents, tell some tales, but would she ever be able to really understand what the journey had been like for us?"
"It seemed to me that these months of watching and listening, second-guessing words and phrases, seeking so much that was new, had somehow changed me."
"If you tempted a poor man with a fortune, who could blame the fellow for taking what he could?"
"I am torn between the freedom of this adventure and the benefits of civilization despite its constraints."
"I had loved poetry and the theatre. Now I loved adventure more."
"Those who have not been stung will hardly fear a bee the same as those who have."
"We are home to each other now."
"I thought of myself mixing the fragrance of a certain day – the heavy musk of the hillside after the rain with the lightness of fresh blossoms doused in the downpour. I thought of each little bottle as the essence of a happy day or a sad one. I mixed the scent of a lonely moment – sandalwood and bergamot lingering over a rich, peppery base."
"People who inspire such contradictory emotions must be worthwhile, I reasoned."